Retrieving material from the wireless or mobile web can be excruciatingly slow when compared to the wired web. The problem is worse when one considers that many people who have wireless web capabilities also have broadband connectivity at home or work. As a result, such people have become accustomed to very fast information downloads, so any delay on their mobile device (whether a PDA, cellular telephone, or other communicator) will seem even more extreme than it actually is. Some of this wireless delay is caused by connection latency, in that it can take seconds or more to establish an initial data connection on a wireless network. Other delay occurs because wireless networks, even when they have started sending or receiving data, are bandwidth constrained, so that information simply does not flow as fast as it would with a land line connection.
When users are forced to stare at a blank screen, any delay can seem like an eternity, in part because the user may not know at the time whether the delay is normal, or if there is instead something wrong with their connection so that they should give up or perhaps move to a better location with a better signal. This problem can be alleviated somewhat by providing the user with a progress indicator in the form of a graphic that informs the user that search results are being retrieved. In addition, the display may be animated, for example, to show a gauge that “fills up” as material is downloaded to the user's mobile device.
The user may also be provided with promotional material while waiting, much like certain software installation programs display promotions about related programs while a user waits for the software to install. Generally, however, such advertising is not helpful to the user because it is not targeted to the user. As a result, it can be more of an annoyance that an aid. Also, advertising that is unhelpful to the user is also unhelpful to the advertiser. Most advertisers seek to provide users with services or products that are actually helpful to them, and not to annoy the user. If the advertised product or service is not helpful to the user, the advertiser gains nothing because the user will not buy the good or service. Also, the provider of the advertisement, such as a syndicating organization, may get nothing if the user takes no interest in the advertisement (i.e., the user does not click on the ad).